This treatise considers the propriety of
attending games and shows, and argues that Christians should not. The work
is of great interest as a major source of information on the history and
operation of the games in the amphitheatre.

SUMMARY

Why Christians should not attend the gladiatorial
and other games and public spectacles in the arena. The reason is
that they are steeped in idolatry, and the mass-emotion is a
powerful method used by pagans to seduce Christians into sinful
bloodlust, and hence to abandon their religion. He concludes with
the image of the greatest spectacle the world will ever see, the
Second Coming of our Lord, and satirically points out that if
it's alright to enjoy the death of others, then on that day it
will be really great, because they can enjoy not just the death
but the damnation of others instead.

CONTENT

Contemporary Carthaginians were addicted to the violence of
gladiatorial displays. Indeed, in the reign of Constantius, a
geographer singled out this addiction as one of the main
characteristics of the city: another was its street of
silversmiths. B

People were becoming Christians, but still going to the games.
Tertullian points out the rules of Christian living. However he
also explains why it is wrong, since people can be tempted to sin
through ignorance, whether real or pretended. For the force of
pleasure can prolong ignorance and corrupt the conscience.
Heathens seduce their Christian friends by arguing that enjoyment
of spectacles is a harmless pleasure which cannot offend God,
that God would not have created the material for spectacles if he
had not intended it to be used.

In reality everything the devil uses for evil purposes, or
rather abuses, was created by God. This includes plants that are
poisonous, for instance.

However, some people have devised a theology to justify their
pleasures - the bible doesn't talk about it so it must be OK.
This catches out the naive, and is used by the crafty. Tertullian
quotes Psalm 1.1 - 'Blessed is the man who enters not the
assembly of the impious' - and it doesn't get more impious than a
crowd screaming for murder to be done. It's idolatrous too - the
games have a pagan religious origin, and even though people don't
really actively go in a religious spirit, the trappings are still
there. Tertullian quotes at length from Suetonius' lost Ludiera
Historia with additions from Varro and other writers.

The desire for pleasure itself can be unhealthy, and arouse
base emotions. These are an integral part of the theatre,
including the obscene Atellan farces, naked prostitutes, etc.
Even the unbelievers despise the entertainers! And how can a
Christian worship God in such a setting? This is where Christians
are executed! Demons lurk waiting to attack - Tertullian quotes
some recent cases. It's all about temptation to sin - and the
unbelievers know it, which is why they tempt the Christians to
come along.

Even so, some people are pretty addicted. Fine - in that case,
save yourself - the Last Judgement will make these little shows
look provincial.

OTHER POINTS OF INTEREST

Tertullian's closing passage has been quoted (out
of context, and translated 'with judicious laxity' - T.R.
Glover(p xi)) by Gibbon in Decline
and Fall, ch.
xv, to rubbish him as 'the stern Tertullian'
with his 'long variety of affected and unfeeling witticisms', and
following him Matthew Arnold, 'the fierce African' of the
'unpitying Phrygian sect', with a view to anti-Christian polemic
in both cases. Nietzsche cites the same passage in On the Genealogy of Morality (ed. Ansell-Pearson, CUP,
1994) 1.15; i.e. section 15 of essay 1, 'Good and Evil', 'Good and Bad'; pp. 31-34
of the CUP edition.

Tertullian's real view is to be found earlier in the work, ch.
19, 2: "the innocent can find no pleasure in another's sufferings: he rather mourns that a brother has sinned so heinously as to need a punishment so dreadful."

MANUSCRIPTS

The text of this work was transmitted to us in three collections:

The Corbie
collection. All MSS are lost, but copies
were used for the 1545, 1550 and 1583/4 early editions, and a single page
(from this work) of a 9th century
MS from Cologne also exists, known as the Keppel fragment
or Fragmentum Gueldriana, first published by Leiftinck (see below, with
photograph).

The Agobardine collection. Only one MS now exists, the 9th
century Codex Agobardinus (A) or
Parisinus Latinus 1622. This portion of the MS has suffered badly from
damp. Worse still, the rotted edges have been cut off, losing up to 20
letters. The edition of CASTORINA employed the UV lamp and recovered
considerable portions of text.

The text given in the 1545 Gagny/Mesnart edition is generally
considered better than the Agobardinus. Gelenius in 1550 has the use of a
lost Malmesbury MS, and an extant collation of it was used again by Pamelius in
1583/4.

Note: The MSS have the overscore
above the letter, but this requires a modern browser to see it. It
signifies an abbreviation.

In addition there are chapter titles. They are given in
the Codex Agobardinus for chapters 6-12. In the 1545 edition titles also appear
for chapters 1-5, presumably from the lost Corbie-class manuscript.
Finally the inventories for Corbie and Cologne give some information confirming
that De munere was the title of chapter 12 in both collections.

[So how far back do the chapter titles
go, if they are identical in both Agobardinus and Corbie MSS?]

BIBLIOGRAPHY

This runs up to 1994. Where not otherwise indicated, details are from Quasten's Patrology,
2 (1955). See also Editions page and Critical
Editions page for more information. My thanks to Petr KITZLER for
sending me a copy of his bibliography, from which some items are taken.